It would be interesting to see if a master plan between UP, CP, Amtrak, and Metra could be worked out on the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor. There are a few important givens here:
1. UP and CP basically do not run freight south of a certain point, as it's now diverted to Bensenville or Proviso
2. Hiawatha, Kenosha, and Fox Lake commuter trains are here to stay
3. It's going to be hard to add track capacity to either UP or CP mains at this point.
The take-away from these points is that UP and CP are here to stay north of Roundout/Techny or wherever they choose to divert freight trains to the freight yards to the west. The same for the corridor and commuter trains.
Perhaps there are small amounts of capacity at different times on either main that might be better used if all four carriers sat down and looked at their needs and did something similar to CN/CP in British Columbia. I'm not necessarily suggesting directional running, just looking at things and making sense of them in order to make the passenger and freght trains move better.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.